CliffSongs

  15 October: Turn Around   Don’t turn around… Isn’t that the rule? Don’t turn around. It isn’t that you want to see, no, No… It’s that you have to see. Is there? Isn’t there? What’s there? What? It isn’t that you want to see… Don’t turn around. That’s the rule. But… Is there? It’s better to not know… Or… Is there? What’s there? You know the rule. Still, What’s there? Who’s there? Is there? Don’t turn around! Don’t you know the rule? The rule is: Don’t. Don’t turn around. What’s there to see? Nothing. Probably nothing. It’s probably nothing. What’s there? Nothing. Is there? Probably. Nothing to see. Nothing there. Probably…   Turn around.   Cliff Lake 10/14/2026 Copyright © Clifford Lake 2026

  14 October: Of Autumn Rain   What can be said of autumn rain? The slight chill accompanies, The day tinged in darkening gray, The soft patter of the slow shower, Locked in for the duration.   What can be said of October storms? Have the bolts shown brighter? Has the sky gone darker? Does the chill dig deeper? The rain has never been wetter!   What can be said of these October showers? They breed hot drinks on a drizzly afternoon, They bear dry leaves to their timely demise. They wash away the summer-strewn dusts, This lingering cleanse before winter’s dress.   What more can I say of an autumn rain? One more layer of clothing applied, One more minute to get ready, One more excuse to dawdle indoors, One more reminder of the years’ close.   Say what you will of the autumn rain: Say that it adds to October gloom, Say that it is not convenient, Say even that it is not wanted, When has it ever done as ...

  Herald   The messengers go by many paths, This urgency must be met. The enemy approaches in his wrath, But our doom is not yet set.   Our ally is many leagues away, Does he know our plight? Our enemy may between lay, But hope now rides this night.   So, ride you herald, ride! Bear your dispatch for your king! Ride, you herald, ride! Though evil tiding you bring. The aggressor has a thirsty spear, The oppressor will not mere rest here, So ride herald, death draws too near, O ride, herald! Ride!   Through hidden lanes and forests old, The messengers ride out, To speak of oath to uphold, And put raider to rout.   Swift and silent they must ride, Before the foe can make assail. They speed ahead of evil tide, They must win through; they dare not fail!   So, ride you herald, ride! Bear your dispatch for your king! Ride, you herald, ride! Though evil tiding you bring. The aggressor has a ...

  8 October: The Paper People   her name what was her name you were there when she slipped you were there when they slipped you can’t see them from the side paper people the paper people you were there when they slip in through the cracks you can’t see them from the side their eyes not eyes their not eyes don’t look at their not eyes drains siphons you were there when what was her name she slipped through the when they took she slipped what was you saw their not eyes they took not all of when they took her eyes you see her eyes drain slip they slipped they took her name the paper people they took what was you were there when she slipped they took what was what was her name you were there when they slipped you were there when she slipped what was her name   close the door don’t look don’t look at their not-eyes don’t look at   Cliff Lak...

  6 October: Lantern Jack Goes On The Hunt   Lantern Jack was having a panic attack: Someone had run off with his cat in a sack. Lantern Jack swore he’d get Hellcat back, And persecute the perpetrator of the hijack.   Lantern Jack headed out the back, He could barely make out some traces in the track. Past tombstones and moonstones and a rotting haystack, Jack soon spied a shuttered up shack.   Lantern Jack had to hang back: No telling what was hiding intent on attack, Jack was prepared to take on a whole pack, If it meant that Hellcat wouldn’t end as a snack.   Lantern Jack crept up on the sorry shack, And peered through a window just open a crack. There was no one inside that he could give a whack, Just some broken furniture and one lumpy sack.   The empty room took Jack quite aback: He thought he’d find some ghoul inside talking smack. Instead, he found webs and dust and fading bric-a-brac, And ancient Mo...

  A Strangulation   The incessant need of the crowd: A succubus you sought out. Insatiable in demand, The audience that smothers.   The slow strangulation of popularity.   A vacuum of you, You gave willingly. Doled out for the suffocating return, How much of you is left?   Slowly strangled by popularity.   Give and give and give some more! Is it still genuine? You give and still they hunger, When did you cease to win?   You are strangling in popularity.   Hollow, you got hollow, Who can say what will follow? You started the cycle – And now you can’t get off.   Strangling yourself with popularity.   What do the numbers add up to? Do you gain just to gain? What have you got upon review? You’ll leave it behind just the same…   The doors that never stop knocking, The answers you cannot give. The vortex that you created, You fell in and can’t swim.   Thi...

  1 October: Shadowframe   1 October has come again, The strange time is risen. Weirdness gripping you and your friends, Darkshine in the eyes where it has deeply been.   There lies the question of some secret flame, A participation in a hidden game, A wolfish joy as October came, And a beckoning to the shadowframe.   And so we slide into the shadowframe, Where you lose yourself someplace without name Where on you strange places its claim, Lost between reason and real, (It’s all the same) This is you in the shadowframe.   Do you dance the moon alone, Felt perchance in blood and bone, A happenstance of some unknown, A fevered trance on firestone.   And so you slide into the shadowframe, Where you find yourself without a name Where on you wild places its claim, Lost between reason and real, (It’s all the same) This is you in the shadowframe.   This yearly harvest heralds winter: A collecting...